Overview
Excelsior is managed by a group of professionals located in Hong Kong and Seoul, combining a broad and complementary array of legal, financial and operational skills with significant principal investing expertise.
Gary LawrenceChairman
| Gary Lawrence is the Chairman and founder of Excelsior. He previously served on the Boards of Office Depot Korea, CJ Hello Co., Ltd. and DC Chemical in South Korea, Tony Wear (Shanghai) Fashion Co., Ltd in China, Sanlih E-Television and Tainan Enterprises in Taiwan, Zest Health Clubs and Downer EDI in Australia and Nation Multimedia Group in Thailand. Prior to Excelsior, Gary was a Managing Director in the Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking Group, based in Hong Kong. He also worked with Tiger Management in New York as a Managing Director, and prior to joining Tiger, was in the Mergers and Acquisitions Department of Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York. Prior to joining Goldman, Gary was an attorney with White & Case. He holds an L.L.B. from the McGill University Faculty of Law and a B.A. from Yale University. In addition, he received an M.A. from Oxford University, attending as Rhodes Scholar. In January 2005, Mr. Lawrence was selected by the National Collegiate Athletic Association as one of six NCAA Silver Anniversary Honorees, an award given annually to six former U.S. collegiate student-athletes who have made significant business and community contributions in the twenty-five years since graduation. |
Seungki MinRepresentative Director (South Korea)
| Seungki Min is the Managing Partner with Excelsior and is the Head of the Seoul office. He currently serves on the Board of Sunjin Control and Access and Office Depot Korea and serves as the CEO of Excel Financial Services in South Korea. Prior to joining Excelsior, Seungki was Senior Managing Director of Keystone Private Equity Korea. Before Keystone, he was the CEO of HTC Asset Management, a north Asia-focused investment business, and a Senior Managing Director with Hyundai Securities where he oversaw proprietary trading. Prior to this, Seungki was Senior Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Heungkuk Financial Group, which included Heungkuk Life Insurance, the fire and marine insurance businesses, two mutual savings banks and Heungkuk Investment Management Trust. Earlier in his career, Seungki also worked at Salomon Smith Barney and Rothschild Asset Management. Seungki holds a B.A. in Business Administration and an M.A. in Financial Engineering from Korea University. |
John YangManaging Director (Hong Kong)
| John Yang is a Partner with Excelsior. He currently serves on the Boards of Lida Holdings and Jinhua Edible Oil in Greater China and previously served on the Boards of Globe Union Industrial, Taiwan Green Point Sanlih E-Television, CKH Food & Health, Sunrex Technology, Ya Dong and United Pacific. Prior to Excelsior, John was an investment director of PrimePartners Asset Management Group, a private equity firm focused on the Asia Pacific Region. Prior to PrimePartners, John was an equity analyst at Cazenove Asia Limited, where he analyzed listed companies in China and Hong Kong. John also worked in the transaction support and audit departments of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young in Hong Kong and Toronto, Canada. John holds a B.A. from the University of Toronto. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, Canada and is qualified as Chartered Financial Analyst. |
Kihong RyuManaging Director
| Kihong Ryu is a Managing Director with Excelsior. He currently serves on the Board of Glotech in South Korea. Kihong has 20 years of investment and investment banking experience at various firms in the financial institution, asset management, and life insurance industries. Prior to joining Excelsior, he was a Managing Director at Keystone Private Equity Korea, where he was in charge of investment activities. Before Keystone, Kihong was responsible for managing the principal investment opportunities at Hyundai Securities. Prior to this, he managed variable life insurance funds at Heungkuk Life Insurance. Earlier in his career, he also worked at Regent Securities and Korea Long-Term Credit Bank Investment Trust. Kihong holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Yonsei University. |
Michael KentSenior Advisor
| Michael Kent is a Senior Advisor of Excelsior. He previously served on the Boards of InnoChips Technology and Galaxia Electronic in South Korea, Downer EDI and Zest Health Clubs in Australia and Indonesia Online in Indonesia. Prior to joining Excelsior, Michael was a consultant to Peregrine Direct Investments in Hong Kong and Australia. From 1980 to 1991, Michael served as Finance Director for the Adelaide Steamship Company Group, a large Australian based conglomerate. During his career at Adsteam, Michael was involved in numerous public market acquisitions, investments and divestments. During this period, he also served as a Director of a number of associated public companies in Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. Michael obtained a B.A. and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the Australian National University and an M.B.A. from the University of New South Wales. |
Jonathan ChungInvestment Partner and Senior Advisor
| Jonathan Chung is Investment Partner and Senior Advisor to Excelsior and brings over 30 years of investment banking experience, providing advice to corporates and private equity firms. He is the Chairman of State Fortune Capital, a Hong Kong and China based advisory boutique that he co-founded in 2011. Jonathan has worked closely with Excelsior team members on numerous projects over the past twelve years. Prior to State Fortune Capital, Jonathan was Chairman of Standard Bank Asia responsible for origination. He was Managing Director at UBS heading Equity derivatives in Asia, and managed derivatives trading at Bankers Trust Company and Merrill Lynch. Jonathan holds a B.Soc.Sc in management from the University of Hong Kong and an MBA from the Columbia Business School. He is a charter-holder member of the CFA Institute. |
Dicken ChiuSenior Principal
| Dicken Chiu is a Senior Principal with Excelsior. Prior to joining Excelsior, Dicken was a Business Development Manager of Dairy Farm, a member of the Jardine Matheson Group headquartered in Hong Kong. While with Dairy Farm, Dicken was responsible for projects involving business expansion through mergers and acquisitions and greenfield investments in the foodstuff and retail sectors. Prior to Dairy Farm, Dicken was a Manager in Ernst & Young's Hong Kong corporate finance group. He also worked for several years as an engineer with MTR Corporation. Dicken holds a Master of Engineering (First Class Honors) from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London, England. |
Jed BarronPrincipal
| Jed Barron is a Principal with Excelsior in South Korea, bringing 20 years of international experience across multiple industries, analyzing investment opportunities and evaluating corporate strategy in a variety of financial, investment and advisory roles at global institutions. Prior to joining Excelsior, Jed was a Director at Accolade Inc, a Seoul-based advisory firm, where he focused on financial and investment strategy, cross border M&A deal sourcing, structuring and execution. Previously, Jed was an analyst at Fidelity Investments and sell-side analyst at Citigroup / Smith Barney and Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown in New York and Seoul. He began his career at Bankers Trust in New York after graduating from Boston University with a BSBA degree. He is a CFA Charterholder, Vice President of CFA Society Korea and Secretary of Boston University Alumni Association of Korea. |
Hahnsang SongPrincipal
| Hahnsang Song is a Principal with Excelsior based in the Seoul office. Prior to joining Excelsior, Hahn was an Assistant Relationship Manager for Korean local conglomerates providing tailor-made structured financing solutions at Corporate & Intuitional Banking (CIB), Standard Chartered Bank Korea. He also worked as a Credit Risk Analyst at CIB Risk and an Account Manager at Group Special Asset Management working on portfolio management and distressed debt investments & managements in North East Asia. Hahn graduated with Dual Degree in Operation Research and Economics from Carnegie Mellon University and holds CAIA, FRM and ERP designations. |